


Figure Drawing 101

by listen_to



Series: SupercorpOneShots [5]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Character Study, F/F, Mon-El ist part auf the background setting, University AU, life drawing session, meet cute, no powers, prompt taken from a random instagram-post
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22863880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/listen_to/pseuds/listen_to
Summary: Lena gets a little bit distracted during a life drawing session.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Series: SupercorpOneShots [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1019817
Comments: 8
Kudos: 163





	Figure Drawing 101

"You have to get out of your head more," Sam had said. "You need to see more people outside of the lab," she had said. "Go out, do something creative and use the other half of your brain for a change, Frankenstein." Lena knew that Sam was right the first time. Only after the third migraine that thwarted her for days caused by excessive lab shifts made her actually act on her friend's advice. "You can't cure cancer when you have to hide away from the bright light like a vampire." Sam had to rub it in that she was right. Of course, she had hoped that Lena would go fun activities like beach volleyball, frisbee, or even clubbing. Lena decided to take drawing classes. Sam had put her foot down so that Lena didn't choose a class that added to the stress of earning credits. Lena took an extracurricular course. She didn't mind. Drawing was creative, promised to be fun and useful as she would have to school her observational skills. Drawing trained the eye to see what was really there and not was you expect there to be. It was a useful skill to master. 

_Fun with Figures_ lived up to its name despite the tacky alliteration. Lena loved the messiness of the whole process. The entire setting was in stark contrast to the sterility of the lab. It created balance in her life; just like the saltiness of fleur de sel that cut that through the sticky sweetness of her favourite Breton caramel sauce. So here Lena was, wearing old jeans and a stained shirt instead of a lab coat, her hands covered in charcoal dust instead of latex gloves, the smell of turpentine clung in the air. She peeked from behind an easel and regarded the display in front of her. The model, Mathew or Mike or something, was lounging on cushions on a stage-like structure on wheels. He was holding a 30-minute pose; his head was propped up, and his legs were slightly spread, one in an angled position. This pose didn't allow him to leave anything to the imagination. Lena was offered the most awkward perspective for figure drawing. She was positioned at his feet and had to look up his legs towards the head. She didn't mind the male form as such, but everything, really everything was foreshortened from this angle. Quite a challenge for an aspiring draftswoman.

Only Lena didn't rise to the challenge as she usually would. Today, Lena was distracted by something rare. In her line of sight sat the TA for the class, Kara, drawing with determined movements from the shoulder in a large sketchbook that was fixed on a drawing board. Usually, Kara did live demonstrations of the different drawing techniques while Miss Grant lectured about the theory. During live drawing sessions, Miss Grant allowed Kara to sit among the students and take advantage of being able to draw from life. 

After every lesson, students gathered around Kara and bombarded her with questions - thinly veiled attempts to flirt. Lena never joined them. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the only opportunity to talk to her at all. Kara was a journalism major. Her classes were at the other end of campus.

"Your line quality and shading skills have improved considerably, Miss Luthor. Even a likeness is perceivable." The voice was like a bucket of ice water. Miss Grand had materialised right behind Lena. It had started with a few stolen glances across the room while Lena had set up her easel. Soon, Mike's presence was forgotten, and Lena's hands moved on their own accord across the paper. How could she have been so careless? Miss Grant took a step closer to the drawing. The backside of a drawing board dominated the composition. Half hidden was a girl who peered at a scene that could be somewhere between her and the beholder of Lena's drawing. Miss Grant had more to say. "You got the facial expression wrong. Your subject has to focus directly at the beholder and not at something vague out of the frame." A pause. "Kiera, your assistance is needed here, after all." And Miss Grand was gone again, scaring the next student. Someone snickered to Lena's right.

When faced with danger, everyone falls back to the most basic instinctive reactions. Lena always fancied herself a fighter, clawing her way out of a pickle while screaming bloody murder. Turns out she wasn't; she didn't even have the reflex to flee. Lena could only watch how Kara looked surprised for a moment, how she licked her lips, how she unfastened and closed her sketchbook, how she put her pencil behind her ear and left a dark streak on her cheek, how she stood up with the sketchbook under her arm. Kara was coming over. She was about to see the drawing and all Lena could do was playing possum. Bloody hell.

At least Lena wasn't keeling over like a fainting goat.

Kara stepped around Lena's easel. She gave the drawing a long, thoughtful look. _Say something, anything._ Nothing. Her mind was a blank. A bead of sweat crawled down Lena's hairline to her brow. She didn't wipe it away, her hands were too heavy. 

Charcoal scratched on a dozen pads. Someone dropped a pencil; the sound thundered through the studio.

"And I thought that you never noticed me." 

"What?" 

Kara chuckled. "I have been trying to talk to you after class the past few weeks, but you are always gone before I could catch you," Kara said. "But it seems you noticed me the same way that I noticed you." She opened her sketchbook to the page she had been working on during the session. It showed Lena behind her easel.

"Would you like to go for a coffee?" Kara asked.

It was a Friday evening in National City, and the world slowed on its axis.

"Is that ok?" _Shut up, Lena._ "I mean, you are the TA of this class." _Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP._

Kara nodded solemnly, then broke into a smile. "This is an extracurricular course. No conflict of interests on my part." 

Lena managed a nod. "I would love to get coffee with you." She unfroze and scrambled to pack her stuff together. Her A2-drawing pad landed with a bang on the floor. Laughing, Kara tried to help her gather her stuff.

There was the ice bucked again.

"Kiera, Miss Luthor, as much as I appreciate that I don't have to watch your mutual silent pining anymore, there are still 20 minutes left of this session!"


End file.
